Chapter 52 : Chapter 52

Chapter 52. Forge Furnace School

Inside the City of Apprentices, a wide classroom was surrounded by numerous apprentices waiting outside for the door to open.

When the designated time arrived, the classroom door vanished like dissipating smoke. The apprentices waiting outside hurriedly squeezed inside.

“So many people!”

Fulan stared at the crowded stream of people in front of her, dumbfounded.

“It is fine. This classroom uses spatial expansion technology. It is much larger inside than it appears from the outside. There will not be a shortage of seats.”

“But this is still too many people. Do all these people really have that many Points? I remember that the normal enrollment for this course is only three hundred.”

Laiyi answered Fulan’s confusion.

“They can buy Points from others. As long as someone exchanges for a course selection certificate at the Points Exchange Hall, they can sell it to someone else.”

“You can do that? I always selected courses directly…”

Fulan and Laiyi waited outside for a while before the crowd finally began to thin.

“Let us go. We can enter now.”

The two of them lined up and entered the classroom. Seeing that the front rows were already full, they had no choice but to find seats in the back.

It had to be said that spatial expansion technology was truly powerful. There were hardly any people left outside now, yet inside the classroom, nearly half the seats were still empty.

“Hm?”

As Fulan walked up the steps, she noticed someone she recognized—but someone who should not have been there.

After hesitating for a moment, she walked over and tapped the person on the shoulder.

“Elan!”

Elan turned around awkwardly. He had never expected such a situation to occur.

Earlier, his mind had been entirely occupied with the task Selin had given him. He had never imagined that someone he knew would see him here.

The reason he had come to attend this class was because he could not normally find that Habos.

This was the only place he could be certain to see him—so the moment class ended, he planned to rush forward immediately.

“Why are you here? Do you not already belong to a school?”

Fulan was extremely surprised. She had never expected Elan to appear here. In her eyes, Elan looked rather old—no matter how she looked at him, he did not resemble an academy apprentice.

To enroll in this course, one first had to be a student of the academy who had not yet graduated. Members of the various schools could not take this class.

Moreover, when apprentices entered the academy, they were usually teenagers. Those who were slightly older had already been sent here long ago.

It was rare for someone of advanced age to become an apprentice.

Yet Elan clearly did not look like an apprentice, and he already belonged to a school. There was simply no reason for him to appear here.

“You two know each other?”

Laiyi asked curiously.

“Yes… I was ordered by my school… to come here and greet that person.”

Elan hurriedly spoke up, racking his brain until he finally came up with a somewhat reasonable explanation.

“Is that really a thing?”

“Of course. You have never joined a school, so you would not know. Our schools actually maintain very harmonious relationships with one another. It is just that apprentices like you are unaware of it.”

Fulan scratched her head. She was not sure whether that was true or not, but she did not pursue the matter further. She sat down with a seat between herself and Elan.

At this time, many apprentices in the classroom were whispering to one another, discussing the class that was about to begin.

At a certain moment, all the apprentices suddenly fell silent.

It was not because they realized that class was starting or that some important figure had arrived and they needed to be quiet.

Rather, they simply could not speak.

Fulan was astonished to discover that she could no longer hear the voice of an apprentice three meters away—even though the person’s mouth was still moving.

“This is a directional sound device. You can only hear the voices of people nearby, as well as the teacher’s voice. It reduces interference from other apprentices.”

Laiyi explained the reason behind the phenomenon.

Elan, meanwhile, sighed inwardly in admiration. As expected of a fourth-tier mage—this was truly an impressive display.

He had lived in the City of Apprentices for six or seven years, yet this classroom had only been activated three or four times. That alone showed how rarely it was used.

Since its construction, the classroom had mostly remained unused because almost no one could afford to activate it.

Each time the classroom was used, it consumed an enormous amount of materials. Every additional device that was activated cost dozens of gold coins.

First there was the spatial expansion technology. Every apprentice who entered required extra spatial stabilization costs.

That one was the cheapest—he estimated that even after the class ended, the total cost would probably not reach thirty gold coins.

The real expense was the directional sound device. In his estimation, it would likely be used only for this single class session. Just one class cost thirty-five gold coins.

Besides that, there was also a spatial transfer device. If you wanted to bring someone to the front, activating it would instantly teleport that person to your location. It was extremely convenient—but each use cost three gold coins.

Elan recalled that several years ago, the Elemental School had publicly recruited apprentices and had chosen this classroom in a display of wealth.

However, they had been forced to change locations after recruiting for only a single morning. They simply could not afford to keep spending the money.

He guessed that Habos would not change classrooms.

For one thing, it would be embarrassing. After all, others might not be able to afford it at the first or second tier, but if a fourth-tier mage could not afford it, what would that say?

Besides, dozens of gold coins were not much to high-tier mages. Sometimes they spent more than a hundred gold coins just to cast a single spell.

At most, Habos might regret spending some of his funds on these meaningless functions.

While the apprentices were still marveling at the magical directional sound device, a steady voice reached every person’s ears.

“Welcome, apprentices, to my class. My name is Habos Roines, the chief of the Forge Furnace School.”

“As you may have guessed, I will recruit apprentices who perform well in this course to join my school.”

The apprentices looked toward the figure standing below the steps with expressions of excitement.

He looked far younger than Elan had expected. His face appeared mature, yet there were no signs of age.

He wore a violet mage robe. Unlike the robes of the apprentices, his robe bore many decorative patterns, and the seams were intricately designed.

On his left hand were three large rings set with red gemstones. On the sleeve of that same arm was the emblem of a red sword.

The apprentices gasped in amazement, but under the effect of the directional sound device, none of those sounds reached Habos’s ears.

Looking at the excited apprentices, he could not help but feel a hint of anticipation.

“I hope a few promising seedlings appear. The school is truly short of people.”

For the apprentices, joining a school was extremely difficult. Even Fulan had struggled to gather information about other schools, let alone these ordinary apprentices.

Those schools that publicly recruited apprentices set their standards one higher than the next. Even slightly weaker apprentices could not enter.

Meanwhile, these apprentices had long hoped to find a school, yet many of them did not even know the names of other schools.

Now that this course had clearly announced that it would recruit apprentices, how could they not be excited?

Some apprentices were already imagining the glory of becoming formal mages after joining a school.

But Elan remained expressionless.

He knew that if even the chief had to personally recruit students, then the school must have serious problems with its low-tier spells.